US Secretary of State calls the prime minister a "peacemaker"; Israeli officials call meetings "very serious," say "everything is on the table."

NEW YORK – US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday expressed
confidence in Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu as a peacemaker, despite
tensions this week between the US and Israel, and Israel and the Palestinians,
over Jewish construction in east Jerusalem.

“The prime minister and
[Palestinian Authority] President [Mahmoud] Abbas are both very committed to the
two-state solution and we’re going to find a way forward,” Clinton said in a
brief response to questions from the press as she begun who proved to be a
marathon session of talks with Netanyahu and advisers from both
sides.

The meetings were aimed at agreeing on conditions that might
enable a resumption of Israeli-Palestinian direct talks, which collapsed in
September after the expiry of Netanyahu’s 10-month freeze on new construction at
settlements. The US administration has repeatedly urged Netanyahu to renew the
moratorium, which Abbas has demanded as a condition for returning to the talks.
The administration has also strongly criticized new building plans in the Jewish
east Jerusalem neighborhoods of Har Homa, Ramot and Pisgat
Ze’ev.

Netanyahu, for his part, has hitherto refused to sanction a
further freeze, unless the PA formally recognizes Israel as a Jewish state –
something Abbas has said he will not do. And the prime minister has insisted on
the right to build in what Israel regards as its sovereign capital.

The
two leaders shook hands warmly as they posed for the cameras before heading into
their initial, one-on-one meeting in the Regency Hotel in New York. That session lasted for over than two hours.

“We have
been talking and we will talk again about how to resume and to continue the
process with peace and security between us and the Palestinians,” Netanyahu
said.

Following the tete-a-tete between the two principals, the Americans
and Israelis broke up into teams for talks into the New York afternoon. Among
those present were US special envoy George Mitchell, Israeli chief peace
negotiator Yitzhak Molcho, Israeli strategist Uzi Arad and US National Security
Council member Daniel Shapiro.

While no details were offered on the
meetings, Israeli government officials said the talks were “very serious” and
that “everything is on the table.”

The meetings were still ongoing at
press time.

Earlier, Netanyahu met with US House Minority Leader Eric
Cantor for more than an hour.

Cantor, a Virginia Republican, is expected
to become majority leader in January, which would make him the highest-ranking
Jewish member in congressional history. Cantor told Netanyahu that “the new
Republican majority will serve as a check on the administration” and that “the
Republican majority understands the special relationship between Israel and the
United States, and that the security of each nation is reliant upon the other,”
according to a statement put out by Cantor’s office.

Many in Washington
interpreted Netanyahu’s bold call this week for the US to back up Iran sanctions
with the threat of military action – a move that Secretary of Defense Robert
Gates quickly dismissed – and his insistence that “Jerusalem is not a
settlement” despite criticism from the US of new moves to advance Jewish
construction in the eastern part of the capital, as a sign that the prime
minister feels strengthened by the Republican congressional victory and expects
to be bolstered by it when dealing with the Obama administration on these
issues.

While Cantor’s statement didn’t refer to the military option, he
did stress the need to increase the pressure on Teheran. “It is time for the
administration to fully and aggressively implement” Iran sanctions, Cantor told
Netanyahu, calling for the administration to “ratchet up the pressure on the
Iranian regime” lest progress on sanctions “unravel.”

Cantor also urged
the White House to “make it absolutely clear that the US will veto any effort by
the Palestinians” to have the UN unilaterally declare a Palestinian
state.

Though the Obama administration has been less categorical about
what it would do should the Palestinians approach the UN, as some in the PA have
threatened, Clinton on Wednesday again expressed opposition to “unilateral steps
by either party that could prejudge the outcome of such negotiations.”

On
Thursday morning, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman visited the Golan Heights
and declared the area to be an indivisible part of the State of Israel that will
remain as such.

There was a strong connection between Damascus, Iran and
North Korea, he noted. Syria helps Iran supply weapons to terrorist
groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

He added that he supported
Netanyahu’s firm statements in defense of Jewish construction in east Jerusalem.
“No one can accept a situation in which we cannot build in [the neighborhoods
of] Gilo and Har Homa.”

He added that Israel should not bow to pressure
to impose a new moratorium on West Bank settlement construction.

“We will
not accept any additional freeze – not for three months, not for a month and not
for a day. Whoever wants to pressure us should pressure the other side. As far
as we are concerned, a long-term interim agreement should be discussed, because
a permanent agreement is impossible.”

Netanyahu was expected to fly back
to Israel late on Thursday and will brief the cabinet about his visit on
Sunday.

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